| name | research |
| description | Multi-agent research skill. Decomposes a question into 2–4 parallel Opus 4.7 research agents that write findings to per-agent Markdown files in real time, then runs a synthesis agent to merge by theme. Use when the user wants to research a topic, investigate something, find comparisons, compare options, learn about a technology, do a literature review, or understand a domain.
|
| arguments | [{"name":"topic","description":"The research topic or question.","required":false}] |
| user_facing | true |
Contents
| Reference | When to load |
|---|
references/orchestrator.md | Running /research <topic> — the full 5-phase flow |
references/write-protocol.md | Copy verbatim into every agent prompt |
references/search-strategies.md | Tool inventory, priority order, query patterns |
templates/agent-skeleton.md | Per-agent Markdown file skeleton |
templates/synthesis-skeleton.md | Synthesis output skeleton |
Research
A single-mode research orchestrator. Runs inside a forked subagent so the main conversation stays clean. Decomposes the question, launches 2–4 Opus 4.7 agents in parallel with a file-first write protocol, monitors progress by reading their files, recovers stuck agents, and then runs one synthesis pass to produce the final brief.
How it works
Read references/orchestrator.md and follow its phases. The short version:
- Plan — decompose into 2–4 workstreams with non-overlapping scopes and 3–6 sections each. Present plan. Wait for approval.
- Skeletons — create
research/{slug}/ and write a file per agent plus a synthesis file, each starting with Status: IN PROGRESS.
- Launch — fire all research agents in one message as parallel
Agent calls with model: "opus" and run_in_background: true.
- Monitor — escalating check-ins (30s → 2m → 5m).
wc -l per file to track progress. If an agent's line count stalls across two checks, launch a fresh Agent with the existing file state and a "skip these sections" prompt.
- Synthesize — one foreground
Agent reads every agent file and writes synthesis.md with themed findings, contradictions, confidence, gaps, next steps, and deduplicated sources.
Write discipline
Every agent prompt carries the write protocol verbatim from references/write-protocol.md: one search or fetch → edit the file with findings → next search. This keeps partial progress on disk where it survives timeouts and 403 errors.
Citation conventions
- Inline Markdown links with publication date when available:
[Source Name, 2026-04-15](https://url.com).
- Citations for the same point are ordered newest-first.
- Primary focus on the last 6 months. Reach further back only for canonical sources or when recent literature is thin.
- Synthesis builds a deduplicated
Sources section at the end, newest-first.
Cost note
All research and synthesis agents run as Opus 4.7 in parallel. Expect significant token usage on a full run — 2–4 parallel Opus agents plus one synthesis pass. Worth it for the quality, but know what you're ordering.
